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U.S. wheat producers welcome President Obama’s announce-ment
last week that the United States will enter into negotiations
with the European Union (EU) toward a comprehensive trade and
investment agreement, officially called the Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership (TTIP). While the name is different, this
agreement will be a free trade agreement (FTA) with an ambitious
goal to liberalize trade between two economic systems that represent
nearly 50 percent of the global economy.
A truly comprehensive FTA between the United States and the
EU would increase market access for U.S. wheat producers and
lower costs for European importers. Removing some existing non-tariff
trade barriers would also provide more stable access to the
European market.
EU imports of U.S. wheat on a five-year average are more than
1 million metric tons (MMT), valued at $330 million. For mar-keting
year 2011/12, imports reached just under 1.2 MMT worth
$362 million. The largest EU importer is Italy with an average of
438,000 MT over the last five years, followed by Spain at an aver-age
of 368,000 MT.
While European imports of U.S. wheat have been relatively con-sistent,
there is room for growth and stability. As part of U.S.-EU
negotiations, wheat growers and importers would benefit from the
full elimination of tariffs on all U.S. wheat. Full duty elimination
would include the margin of preference program on high protein
wheat as well as the tariffs on low- and medium-protein wheat.
The TTIP must be a comprehensive and high standard agree-ment
similar to the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership negotia-tions,
with plans to address non-tariff trade impediments includ-ing
sanitary-phytosanitary (SPS) measures that go beyond existing
World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. These WTO-plus SPS
measures will create increased cooperation and transparency on
science-based SPS risk assessments, standards, processes and reg-ulations
to further minimize trade disruptions.
U.S. wheat producers look forward to the opportunities free
trade between the United States and the EU would bring to pro-ducers
and customers. We encourage negotiators here and across
the Atlantic to reach a truly comprehensive and forward-looking
agreement that ensures the greatest possible benefits for their pro-ducers
and customers.
March 2013 edition
the Oklahoma Wheat Brief
U.S. Wheat Producers Welcome
U.S.-EU Trade Agreement Talks
Tyler Jameson US Wheat Assistant Director
of Policy
Could taking a vitamin supplement before and during preg-nancy
help reduce the chances of your child being diagnosed
with autism later? According to a new Norwegian study, yes.
Women who took folic acid supplements before and during
early pregnancy were about 40 percent less likely to have a baby
later diagnosed with autism. The study was published this week
in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Researchers tracked more than 85,000 Norwegian children
born between 2002 and 2008. Doctors asked pregnant women
to fill out a questionnaire about supplement use, both before
and during their pregnancies, and followed the children for an
average of six years. Autistic disorder was present in 0.10 per-cent
of children whose mothers took folic acid, compared with
0.21 percent in children whose mothers did not take folic acid.
“Autism spectrum disorders are a group of developmental
disabilities that are often diagnosed during early childhood,”
explained Dr. Robert Berry, a medical epidemiologist at the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center
on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. The disorder
“can cause significant social, communication and behavioral
challenges over a lifetime.”
There’s been a dramatic increase in the prevalence of autism
spectrum disorders, now affecting one in 88 children, according
to a CDC report released last year. As the NewsHour’s Robert
MacNeil reported in his “Autism Now,” series, the causes of the
disorder are “immensely complex” and not entirely understood.
It’s generally accepted that autism is caused by abnormalities in
the brain’s structure or function.
Folic acid, a B vitamin, plays a key role in the first days and
weeks of embryonic life, before women even know they’re preg-nant.
Folate, the natural form of folic acid, is found in lentils,
spinach, black beans, peanuts, orange juice, romaine lettuce and
broccoli. Other products, like bread and cereal, are enriched
with folic acid. But most people still don’t get enough of the
vitamin from food alone.
The vitamin is also critical for reducing the risk of spinal
bifida and other neural tube de-fects.
But two-thirds of women
are not aware that it’s important,
according to the March of Dimes
-- a statistic further complicated
by the fact that about a half of all
pregnancies are unplanned.
The CDC’s Dr. Berry co-authored the accompanying editorial
in JAMA. We talked with him about the new research earlier
this week.
Can Folic Acid Reduce the Risk of
Autism?
Published in the March edition of the
Journal of the American
Medical Association

U.S. wheat producers welcome President Obama’s announce-ment
last week that the United States will enter into negotiations
with the European Union (EU) toward a comprehensive trade and
investment agreement, officially called the Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership (TTIP). While the name is different, this
agreement will be a free trade agreement (FTA) with an ambitious
goal to liberalize trade between two economic systems that represent
nearly 50 percent of the global economy.
A truly comprehensive FTA between the United States and the
EU would increase market access for U.S. wheat producers and
lower costs for European importers. Removing some existing non-tariff
trade barriers would also provide more stable access to the
European market.
EU imports of U.S. wheat on a five-year average are more than
1 million metric tons (MMT), valued at $330 million. For mar-keting
year 2011/12, imports reached just under 1.2 MMT worth
$362 million. The largest EU importer is Italy with an average of
438,000 MT over the last five years, followed by Spain at an aver-age
of 368,000 MT.
While European imports of U.S. wheat have been relatively con-sistent,
there is room for growth and stability. As part of U.S.-EU
negotiations, wheat growers and importers would benefit from the
full elimination of tariffs on all U.S. wheat. Full duty elimination
would include the margin of preference program on high protein
wheat as well as the tariffs on low- and medium-protein wheat.
The TTIP must be a comprehensive and high standard agree-ment
similar to the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership negotia-tions,
with plans to address non-tariff trade impediments includ-ing
sanitary-phytosanitary (SPS) measures that go beyond existing
World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. These WTO-plus SPS
measures will create increased cooperation and transparency on
science-based SPS risk assessments, standards, processes and reg-ulations
to further minimize trade disruptions.
U.S. wheat producers look forward to the opportunities free
trade between the United States and the EU would bring to pro-ducers
and customers. We encourage negotiators here and across
the Atlantic to reach a truly comprehensive and forward-looking
agreement that ensures the greatest possible benefits for their pro-ducers
and customers.
March 2013 edition
the Oklahoma Wheat Brief
U.S. Wheat Producers Welcome
U.S.-EU Trade Agreement Talks
Tyler Jameson US Wheat Assistant Director
of Policy
Could taking a vitamin supplement before and during preg-nancy
help reduce the chances of your child being diagnosed
with autism later? According to a new Norwegian study, yes.
Women who took folic acid supplements before and during
early pregnancy were about 40 percent less likely to have a baby
later diagnosed with autism. The study was published this week
in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Researchers tracked more than 85,000 Norwegian children
born between 2002 and 2008. Doctors asked pregnant women
to fill out a questionnaire about supplement use, both before
and during their pregnancies, and followed the children for an
average of six years. Autistic disorder was present in 0.10 per-cent
of children whose mothers took folic acid, compared with
0.21 percent in children whose mothers did not take folic acid.
“Autism spectrum disorders are a group of developmental
disabilities that are often diagnosed during early childhood,”
explained Dr. Robert Berry, a medical epidemiologist at the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center
on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. The disorder
“can cause significant social, communication and behavioral
challenges over a lifetime.”
There’s been a dramatic increase in the prevalence of autism
spectrum disorders, now affecting one in 88 children, according
to a CDC report released last year. As the NewsHour’s Robert
MacNeil reported in his “Autism Now,” series, the causes of the
disorder are “immensely complex” and not entirely understood.
It’s generally accepted that autism is caused by abnormalities in
the brain’s structure or function.
Folic acid, a B vitamin, plays a key role in the first days and
weeks of embryonic life, before women even know they’re preg-nant.
Folate, the natural form of folic acid, is found in lentils,
spinach, black beans, peanuts, orange juice, romaine lettuce and
broccoli. Other products, like bread and cereal, are enriched
with folic acid. But most people still don’t get enough of the
vitamin from food alone.
The vitamin is also critical for reducing the risk of spinal
bifida and other neural tube de-fects.
But two-thirds of women
are not aware that it’s important,
according to the March of Dimes
-- a statistic further complicated
by the fact that about a half of all
pregnancies are unplanned.
The CDC’s Dr. Berry co-authored the accompanying editorial
in JAMA. We talked with him about the new research earlier
this week.
Can Folic Acid Reduce the Risk of
Autism?
Published in the March edition of the
Journal of the American
Medical Association